SDSU Veterinary Student Receives Farmers Union Scholarship

by Lura Roti

Helping her grandpa, Randy Willmott, feed and care for bottle calves on the family's Brookings County farm led Tara Feucht to veterinary medicine. Feucht is the recipient of the South Dakota Farmers Foundation Union Travelers Motor Club $2,500 Graduate School Scholarship.

"I would help Grandpa mix the formula, fill the bottles, take the bottles out to the calves," the SDSU Veterinary student explained. "I also helped him run them through the chute and give them vaccines. Grandpa Randy is my biggest role model - he is the reason I love animals."

A member of the Brookings FFA Chapter, as a high school student Feucht applied her passion for animal husbandry to the veterinary science FFA contest. Her senior year, she and her teammates won the state contest and qualified to compete at the 2022 National FFA Convention.

She further explored veterinary medicine with a part-time job at Big Sioux Veterinary Care and at Clin Global a Brookings research company.

"Seeing both sides of veterinary medicine, I realized I liked the diversity the career offers. Every day is different because as a vet you see so many different cases and animal species," Feucht said.

Feucht received her undergraduate degree in Animal Science, with a science specialization from South Dakota State University in 2025. And she was accepted to three veterinary schools. "I know I am lucky because some of my classmates applied four times before being accepted," said Feucht, who is among the 20 students accepted to SDSU Veterinary medicine program out of the 250 who applied. "It helped that I was involved at SDSU beyond my studies. Yes, GPA matters, but you also need to show that you are a well-rounded individual."

As an undergraduate student, Feucht was a member of the pre-vet club at SDSU and volunteered to serve as Superintendent of the Little I vet science competition. "Little I is a great experience because I needed to communicate with my committee members, agriculture education teachers and high school students. And it takes a lot of organization and time management to put on a competition of this size."

Time management skills definitely come in handy as a vet student, Feucht said. "The classes are definitely challenging. It helps that our class size is small and our professors know us by name and truly care that we learn the material correctly."

With the heavy class load, Feucht said there is no additional time for a part-time job. Which is among the many reasons she is grateful for the Farmers Union Graduate Scholarship. All told, without scholarships, Feucht and her classmates spend about $16,700 a semester on Veterinary School during the four semesters they are at SDSU. This increases for Feucht to $34,155 when she transfers to University of Minnesota because of out-of-state tuition rates.

Because of scholarships, loans and other programs, Feucht is able to cover the cost. "I have heard teens say they want to become a veterinarian, but they know they will not be able to afford vet school. My message to them is, "there are opportunities to help you finance vet school - like this Farmers Union scholarship." If you want to become a veterinarian, don't let the cost of school stand in your way.'"

The SDSU Veterinary Medicine program collaborates with the University of Minnesota. So, after spending two years at SDSU, Feucht and her classmates will transfer to study in Minnesota.

After Vet School, Feucht hopes to return to Brookings to practice. "South Dakota is really short on veterinarians - especially those willing to practice rural medicine. South Dakota is home. This is where my family is. This is where I want to be."

Providing financial support to the next generation of agriculture professionals is among the ways South Dakota Farmers Union (SDFU) supports family farmers and ranchers, explained Karla Hofhenke, Executive Director of SDFU.

"Family farmers and ranchers need support from agriculture professionals like veterinarians, agronomists and nutritionists - the list is extensive - to continue to produce crops and livestock today and into the future," Hofhenke said.

Gene Hammond, President, and principal owner of Travelers Motor Club agreed.

"We are a rural motor club so rural America is important to us. We believe the best way to preserve rural America is to invest in the next generation," Hammond said. "To provide for someone who wants to advance themselves and provide services through education to benefit rural citizens, we just see great value in that."

To learn more about how South Dakota Farmers Union supports family farmers and ranchers, visit www.sdfu.org.